Robster

Just flicked over to hear Steve Curry say that he would have had more faith in Allardyce bringing success to Newcastle than Keegan. I am speechless as to what logic in his brain would have brought him to that conclusion. Staggering... truly staggering

Sean Davis. Do me a fucking favour.

Bonkers really isnt it. It like one huge love in at the minute. Its bringing back the one thing that KK and SBR brought to this club that none of the others did - good PR Even getting to 2 Wembley Cup finals under Dalglish and Gullit didnt have the feel good factor attached to it, that has been around this last fortnight. Bizarre.

Be nice to think that to win 1 trophy would then bring along another couple but I think we might be in the category of the likes of Coventry, Middlesbourgh and probably Portsmouth come May. When 1 comes along it will be a 1 off. Dont get me wrong though, I would celebrate like never before should it happen. We have learned to gauge success as relative really. At the moment, as you can probably tell, we are just happy that we are winning games and seeing some half decent football again.

Thats fair enough mate. Interesting to get thoughts of fans of clubs in that 2 club/1 city situation. Newcastle have always been a very good proposition for players looking for a bumper payday. Not easy to come here claiming to be "looking to win trophies"

Or is it that Sammy Lee and Gary Megson are very very useless ? I agree that its is unfair to label Allardyce "Useless" as his story at Bolton is impressive. What was mind destroyingly frustrating was that he was so stubborn and arrogant.

Not sure i agree with all of that, my point was that Everton are handicapped as a club by having Livepool in the same city. i think its a bit of an unrealisitc view to suggest that the tradition of the clubs has much standing in todays game, unfortunately it is an aspect of the game which seems to be phased out in order to make more room for the souless business side of the game. I like Everton as a club, i think Moyes has done a fantastic job and maybe doesnt get half the credit he deserves (credit which seems to be reseverd for the english Sam Allrdyce) but i genuinely believe that having a good history, having a good standing at present and having a good tradition count for very little in toays more moey driven game. And especially so when you have a massive world reknonwed club on your doorstep. Its David versus Goliath without the rock. So what do you think about Atletico Madrid? They attract big name players every year and have pretty much an identical honours list to Everton and the biggest club in the world on their doorstep. The difference being money. You just said yourself that today's game is money driven, Atletico have lots of it and we don't. It's also worth considering that back in the 70's when Liverpool were far, far stronger than they are now and were winning everything in sight it was no handicap to us in the long run, we came through it stronger and won major trophies ourselves in the 80's. Back then we had the finances to compete at the very top end of the market and go after all the top players but now we're operating a step below that. If/when things change in the boardroom then that will be reflected on the pitch. We'll be able to genuinely compete at that point but until then, we're hoping one of the rich clubs will slip up and our manager will be able to capitalise on it. Same as Villa/City/Spurs/Newcastle. What about Athletico Madrid? There are alot of incomparable differences there that you cant really apply to Liverpool/Everton, such as the city, the weather etc. Does that not have an effect of the percieved glamour of the club? Also are Athetico competing with Real for these big players? I dont think so, and i dont think that there have been many cases of Real losing out on a player to Athletico. I think you've inadvertently explained yourself why Liverpool are comletely relevant to the success of your club, if Everton were the only club in that city, then do you think you wold of benefitted from that extra support? To say that having Liverpool in your city is irrelavent nonsense just sounds like yu may be in denial. I just cant see how you dont hink that them being in your city doesnt have adirect effect on how you do as a club. You don't often talk a lot of sense but I think you're dead right here. If there was a city called Everton and EFC were the only club then they would for sure be a bigger draw. Again you are right NUFC has benefitted hugely from Newcastle being a one club city, if things start to get on a roll here the whole city, most of the surronding conurbation, more than half of the county to the south and pratically all of one England's largest counties to the north get behind them. Our catchment area is absolutely huge. But no matter how well Everton do the shadow of Liverpool has always hung over them since the 70's, funny though that wasn't always the case before Shankley, Everton were very much Liverpool's (the city that is) club. That last paragraph is so untrue. Both clubs have always enjoyed a healthy percentage of the citys support but Liverpools support never went lower than 35,00 post war and before Mr Shankly came. As for Everton, I can honestly say I've never noticed them have any problems signing top players when they were doing better on the pitch, and that's right through the '60's, 70's and 80's. In the 90's money became a problem for Everton, not the fact that players wouldn't sign. Given the same finances of Newcastle and offering the same wages, Everton would be a bigger draw than Newcastle for most players, imo. As for the two club city versus one club, give me what we've got rather than just one club anytime. There's always that competitive edge to drive you on, the sibling rivalry and banter that goes on in every pub across the city. Maybe it's the reason 27 League Championships and 12 FA Cups have found their way to this city alone. Bristol.. Sheffield. Just so happens that Liverpool and Everton have been 2 of the best and most successful clubs since the 60's. Not sure it has anything to do with being in the same city. EDIT : I think Liverpool are the team that has driven Everton to success over the years but I think its Manchester United that has driven Liverpool.

If Kevin manages to get us up to say 6th/7th/8th next season, it will all be down to the foundations that Sam laid down during his time here.

I think Kevin needs immense credit for Owen's current upsurge in form. I am in awe of his ability to be able to spot things like this and to adapt a player's role/position like he appears to have done with Michael. It was KK that changed Steve Howey from a striker to a Centre Half wasnt it?

In some respects, the first 8 games or so will have helped ground the players, and everyone else concerned, into not thinking that KK was going to turn on some kind of magical tap that would fix things instantaneously. That difficult start I think has helped focus the players onto realising what hard work has needed to be done. With any manager, there is no way of knowing how a full pre-season will change things but from previous experience with Kevin, I think we can have confidence that the pre-seaons is going to have nothing other than a positive effect on the players.

Very good point

Thought both Michael Owen's and Mark Viduka's goals were very very good. Good inventive passing and moving. Beye's chip for Owen's was top drawer

Certainly be interesting to see. KK dropped and sold David Kelly when every Newcastle fan around would have wanted him to have at least a season in the Premiership after what he did for us. Tough call from Kevin but he did it. An interesting Summer ahead.

Yet another good, positive interview from one of the players. Always good to hear.

Interesting comment from Viduka on Sky where he said "We realised that we dont have to be best mates off the field but on the field, we have to be prepared to die for each other". Maybe some players were not getting on very well and Allardyce didnt do enough about it to stop it affecting the performances. Looking at those highlights tonight, togetherness seems very good. Lots of supportive hand shakes etc when chances missed/created.

Stuff MOTD. I am going to watch Football First on Sky now instead. Will see a load more highlights.

I have no doubt that Sam is sitting at home tonight feeling just a little sad that we arent going to go down. I bet he was hoping relegation would help him justify what he was trying to do at the club and that he should in fact have been kept on

I love him for his time as a Newcastle player but as a pundit he is shiiiite. As bland as Mark Bright

Sealed Bolton's fate there I think Brummie. Villa performance was a bit overdue I think ?

WONT

Thanks to Beye, I think thats the best goal celebration I have ever seen Michael Owen involved in. Cant wait to see it on MOTD

I cant wait for the "The fans are shite because we didnt stay in London for 3 days celebrating after we won the FA Cup" thread

Englands best finisher. Not the best techincally by a long shot but the guy does what he is paid to do. Going to be a nervous summer to see if we can hang on to him. Its nice to see him enjoy his football again. Not sure I have seen him with such a smile on his face for a long time.

For me it just confirms that all the science, technology and coaching badges in the world mean very little. KK of course has technical and coaching ability but I firmly believe that it is purely his ability to talk to people, his personality and his ability to breathe confidence into players, that bring the results that we are now starting to see.